My wife wants our pet out on the porch!!
 

All:

I received our yorkie from a fellow co-worker about a month ago and Peanut is 4 months old. He has gone from peeing and pooping on the carpet (when we first got him) to doing it in his crate. We finally came to the decision to section off a small part of our kitchen (we have an apartment) with one pee pad and his cloth bed. He has been doing pretty good, but occasionally when we aren't watching him, he will have an accident on the carpet (usually pee). My wife was pretty good with him this weekend because she noticed the signs of him looking around for a place to pee, and would quickly put him in his area. He would go on the pad and then bark to let us know that he is done.

The problem? My wife doesn't want him in the kitchen any longer because she thinks it's unsanitary when cooking and handling dishes and such. Plus there are areas in the kitchen (like the drawers) that we don't have quick access too. Anyway, she wants to know if moving him to the porch is a reliable option. I am reluctant to do this because:

1) He is supposed to be a in-house dog.
2) He's too young.
3) The wind could blow away the pee pad and we would be left with cleaning up stuff from the porch floor.
4) We would have to have him in the house at night anyway.

Do any of you keep your yorkie on the porch during the day while noone is home? How safe is it (we live on the 2nd floor, so noone can steal him)? Would changing his environment cause him to be worse? We bascially want him home trained so that he will only go to a spot when he has to, but I understand this will take time.

-M

Maybe...you could get baby gates and section off the entire kitchen? or an x-pen?

I would NOT leave him on the porch, especially with winter fast approaching. I would crate train him. If he is pottying in his crate, his crate is too big. You need to make the crate as small as possible so he cannot go potty in one end and lay down in the other. Even if you buy the smallest crate you can find, it can still be too big. You need to make it smaller by putting cardboard boxes or tupperware in the back to make the crate smaller. Here is the best method I have found to potty train a puppy using the crate:

http://www.darnfar.com/Dog%20Trainin...ng_a_puppy.htm

If you are consistent and do it exactly like this article suggests, he will be housebroken in no time. Also neutering him will help with the housebreaking. You can get him neutered as early as 4 months of age.

get a belly band you could put him out when your home to watch him but i wouldn't just leave the dog out there all the time they need socialization and training take the dog out to potty as often as possible and they will learn it will take awhile though yorkies are small dogs they have small bladders so they can't hold it in and shouldn't. unsanitary well if you clean it isn't unsanitary that's what bleach & lysol are for.

Just Sent You A Pm
 

it just irks me sometimes.. why do people get pets to leave them outside..
is it me???? :confused: :confused: :confused: ....

No it isnt you I agree

It's not just you I agree totally.

I like what Rebecca (RLC12345678) said above find a smaller crate for him. Although I never crate trained Georgie I think that crate training is a great option. Please do not put him on the porch it's not safe for him. There are definitely alternatives to that. Good luck and remember he is just a baby it will take time to housetrain him please be patient.

I kind of think of it like this: Would you leave a child on the porch all day alone? He is only 4 months and will have accidents, that's just a part of raising a puppy. I would try an ex-pen or a playpen. Please do not let your wife leave him on the porch, it is not safe for him at all.

I would NOT leave a yorkie on the porch, I don't care if it is upstairs.

I know with mine, just because she uses wee wee pads in one room, didn't make her totally house trained. Every room I add, its like starting all over again.

If your wife doesn't want the pup in the kitchen, try an x-pen in another room. I've heard of some putting a shower curtain under x-pens in the living room (or any room that has carpet). That keeps them from going on the carpet.

Also when they potty in the right spot...LOTS of praise, and a treat. I've used Venus's own food for a treat.

I'd also do like RLC suggested with the crate. I bought a huge one, and had to section it off also. I finally moved it to my bedroom at night, so I could hear her whine to go potty. After that first week, she quit pottying in her crate. If she whined at all, I got up and took her outside to potty. Wasn't long before I'd open the crate, and she'd run to her pee pads, instead of going outside. She knew when she'd whine, I was going to let her out to potty.

Venus is 5-1/2 months, and she still has some accidents once in a while. At 5 months, she was "getting it" pretty well. So with yours at 4 months, its still a little early to expect them to "get it".

I'd be very careful about adding more rooms too. Just because they know where to potty in one room, doesn't mean they will go back to that room again. I had to add a pee pad in my living room, and make sure I watched her VERY closely. When she was sniffing, or doing circles...I'd take her immediately to the pad. If she did her business, praise, praise, praise and give her a treat!

Would you put your baby out on the porch if you were tired of hearing it cry?
If you can not provide a loving home or have the patience to train your pup you should find it a better home. It sounds like your wife is not crazy about having a puppy. Perhaps an older dog that was already housebroken would be better. A Yorkie is not an outside dog and needs the same care you would give a toddler. I am sorry if I sound alittle frustrated but I am.
Welcome to YT. I should have said that first. Please do not put you puppy outside. It is cold and it should not be alone anyhow. If the pup is outside why have it to begin with?

I would leave your wife out on the front porch if I were you!:mad:

I would never leave my babies out on the porch...EVER! Get an Xpen for the pup and keep that in the kitchen. That way, he is not in the whole kitchen, but in one area.

Unsanitary in the kitchen??? He's not a Great Dane, he's a Yorkie!!! They don't shed...and for the life of me, I just can't imagine someone not falling so madly in love with the little guy, that having a little patience while housebreaking would be a problem. :confused:

:yeahthat: :lol tears :lol tears :lol tears :lol tears

mandy, you made my day.. thanks, and i was having a bad one today..

Not to bash you or your wife, but shouldn't the two of you have known the basics of housebreaking (how to, difficulties due to breed, etc.) BEFORE getting the poor puppy?

Xpens are a great way to confine a puppy. You can get them at Petsmart or Ebay

It's just not safe for small pets and mostly Yorkies to be out side They dont have the double coat to stay warm and other dogs and wild animales would not have a problem with getting on the porch and killing your little one. I would never Let my Yorkie out side even on the porch with out being right by its side. The xpen in the kitchen sounds like the best advice to me.

LMAO!!

A dog is not something to be left untended outside all day long let alone a toy breed puppy! There are always kinder gentler ways to deal with potty training...would you put a toddler outside in diapers if she/he pee'd their training pants to teach them a lesson and continue to do this until they caught on?

Patience, Praise and Persistence is a virtue here! You cant expect a puppy to learn right from wrong without the three P's! Confinement in a bathroom with a pee pad or in a large crate while your gone and consistancy when you are home is your best method.

If it becomes an intolerable situation for your wife your puppy will feel the animosity, the puppy would then be better off being re-homed to a family that can take the time to train the pup properly before it becomes a habitual problem.

Wish you luck!

I agree. I also would not like him on the porch.

If we crate train him, he may be in there all day long until the afternoon when we get home. We leave the house at around 8am. My wife works close but she doesn't think she can come home for lunch EVERY day till he knows not to go. That would mean that Peanut would be in the crate from 8am to like 4pm. Isn't that too long?

-M

Unfortunately that is too long. He does not need to be in a crate more than 4 hours MAX at a time. I would get an ex-pen and put a tarp under it and put him in the living area. Put things in the ex-pen that will occupy him. Put his bed in there, pee pads, food, water, toys....he should be good to go in there all day while yall are at work. Putting the ex-pen in the living area would certainly get him out of the kitchen and having the tarp (or shower curtain) under the pen would prevent messes on the carpet. Like I said earlier, neutering him will help with the peeing.

8-4 is too long for the crate....unless you expect him to have an accident in the crate. The area you described is more like what you need to train him to use the pads.
Housetraining info is available on my site at www.sylvanyorkies.com

I think some of you people are being a little harsh with the responses.

I don't think my wife knows much about dogs and especially about little ones. That's why I'm asking on these boards to see what the general consensus is.

In any case, can someone send a screenshot of an x-pen? I don't know how those look. Also, we did section off a small portion of the kitchen for Peanut. I'm fine with it, but my wife doesn't want him in the kitchen. If we can section off a small part of the apartment, with this x-pen, then that would be the best option for us. Otherwise, if my wife can't compromise with me, we may have to find it another home.

-M

If the kitchen is not ok with your wife, try compromising and put him in another place in your apartment with a tarp or shower curtain underneath. Here is what an x pen looks like.

Look at how this one is set up:

http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/sho...t=fitted+sheet

Yeap. I saw one of those at the pet store. I think that would work well.. A shower curtain for the under it? Hmm.. how would that work?

-M

shower curtain
 

I agree with the OP some are being to harsh.
Is a shower curtain really safe,what if it is eaten.The smell so toxic when you take them out of the pakage, it about knocks ya out.:rolleyes:

That looks AWESOME!! I'll send my wife this link.

-M

Look at the link I just posted of how someone set up their x-pen. You could put a shower curtain down and then an old sheet of some sort so if your little one missed the pee pad and peed on the floor, it wouldn't mess up your carpet. It would get on the sheet and then on the shower curtain, which repels water, and it wouldn't mess up your carpet. And you wouldn't have to keep him in the kitchen. The shower curtain would act in the same manner that the kitchen floor does by repelling the water but so your puppy won't get the pee all over himself, you could put the old sheet over the shower curtain so it would absorb the pee and not get all over Peanut.

I was thinking put the shower curtain down, then put the sheet on top of the shower curtain. You are right...the shower curtain would be harmful if eaten but also, you don't want Peanut getting pee all over himself. The old sheet would help absorb the pee and the shower curtain would protect the carpet.